The LG G Watch R ( at Amazon) is a study in contrasts. It's the best-looking smartwatch yet, but it's still comically large. It has better battery life than the competition, but you'll still need to charge it once a day. And Android Wear, though recently updated, still doesn't feel ready for primetime. For $299, it's also $50 more expensive than the already-pricey Moto 360 ($179.97 at Amazon) . This is definitely the best Android Wear watch I've seen yet, but if you have a few months, it's probably still worth waiting to see what comes next.
Design and Display
The biggest difference between the G Watch R and its predecessor, the G Watch , is a physical one: The G Watch R is round, like a traditional timepiece. It's the best-looking smartwatch I've seen yet. I'm not against a squarish form factor if a good case can be made for it, but I've yet to see one. And let's face it, most watches have been round pretty much forever, in part because that's what looks good.
I like the design of the G Watch R more than the Moto 360, which has a vaguely unfinished feel to me. Here, the steel design and numbered bezel really convey the sense that this is first and foremost a watch, which I think is important if you're going to call your product a smartwatch.
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Motorola Moto 360 (2014)
LG G Watch
Samsung Gear Live
The attached leather band is also an improvement. It looks and feels more luxurious than the rubber strap on the original, even though it doesn't appear to be the highest-quality leather. It began to look creased and wrinkly after just a few days of use, so I imagine that will only grow more pronounced over time. Thankfully, you can swap it out for any 22mm band of your choosing.
Despite the dramatic improvement in styling, one big problem remains, and I mean big: The G Watch R is huge. Its face measures 1.8 by 2.1 by 0.4 inches (HWD) and weighs 2.2 ounces. I was unable to fit most shirtsleeves over the watch, so they'd remain bunched up next to it, calling more attention to the already-attention-grabbing face. And this is definitely the type of watch people will notice, so be prepared to field questions.
I wouldn't be surprised if nearby gawkers are transfixed by the 1.3-inch, 320-by-320 P-OLED display, which looks fantastic. It's a bit smaller than the 1.56-inch display on the Moto 360, but it's sharper and more vibrant, so it's easier to see. Blacks are richer, whites are brighter, and colors are just generally more exciting on the G Watch R than on any other smartwatch. It's also perfectly easy to read outdoors.
Unlike the Moto 360 display, which suffers from a crude light refraction along the corners, no such problem exists on the G Watch R, which remains crisp across. Even better, the watch has a completely circular display. This makes it look worlds better than the 360, which cuts off the screen with a horizontal line at the bottom. On the other hand, this also means the G Watch R doesn't have an ambient light sensor, so you must adjust brightness manually. Luckily, that's much easier to do this time around, as LG has decided to include a crown on the side of the watch, which was a major omission on the G Watch. Pressing this button triggers the display, while holding it down calls up the Settings menu, which lets you quickly toggle brightness levels.
Finally on the design front, the G Watch R is rated IP 67 for dust and water resistance, and can safely be immersed in water up to three feet deep for 30 minutes.
Hardware and Battery Life
On the inside, the G Watch R is pretty much identical to its predecessor. It's powered by a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor and 512MB RAM, and comes with 4GB of storage. Thanks to a recent Android Wear update, you can now use that storage for music, though at the moment it only works with tracks downloaded through the Google Play Music app (you'll also need a pair of Bluetooth headphones). Still, this makes it a lot more convenient to listen to music when your phone might not be nearby, like at the gym.
The G Watch R connects to devices running Android 4.3 and above via Bluetooth 4.0. For this review I tested it with an LG G3 on AT&T. The watch features an accelerometer, barometer, compass, and gyroscope. Thankfully, it also includes a built-in heart-rate monitor, bringing it up to speed with other Android Wear devices. The heart-rate monitor seemed fairly accurate, though a bit finicky; the watch needed to be in exactly the right position on my wrist in order to get a reading.
Nothing sums up my mixed feelings about the G Watch R quite as much as its battery life. The watch has a 410mAh battery, which is the highest-capacity cell we've seen in an Android Wear device (though not by much, as the original G Watch uses a 400mAh battery). This means that maybe, just maybe, you might be able to squeeze up to two days' worth of battery life out of the watch before needing a recharge. For me, it was more like a day and a half of moderate to heavy use, which means I still had to charge it every night to make it through the next day. That's better than the single day of battery you get with the Moto 360, but it simply isn't good enough.
Android Wear Updates and Conclusions
Adding insult to injury is that LG still insists on a magnetic charging cradle. The magnetic connection is light, making it easy for the watch to slide off the charger. And it only works in one direction, so it's possible to dock the watch the wrong way and not receive a charge at all.
Android Wear Updates
The G Watch R runs on Google's Android Wear. Unlike Android itself, Google doesn't allow for any major modification of its Android Wear software. This means that, outside of hardware, the Android Wear experience is virtually identical across all Android Wear devices. You can read my review of the G Watch or the Samsung Gear Live for a deeper dive into the Android Wear interface and features. In general, though, the OS is very much about putting smartphone notifications and Google Now functionality on your wrist. Here I'll just mention some changes that have happened since my initial review.
The pairing process and user interface remain mostly unchanged. You need to download the Android Wear app to your corresponding device before connecting to the G Watch R. Once connected, you enter the rather confusing world of Android Wear, which consists of a series of taps and swipes for navigation which aren't at all intuitive.
Google Play is now home to far more Android Wear-compatible apps than when I last checked it. I counted 176 apps as of this writing, up from the 30 apps when Android Wear first launched. That doesn't suggest the same explosive popularity as Android itself (or Apple's iOS), but it means that Android Wear is quickly catching up to Pebble, which has quite a large selection.
That's not to say all 176 apps are keepers. Some of the apps I downloaded directly through Android Wear didn't actually show up on the watch itself, which makes me wonder how many of them are actually optimized for use on Android Wear. Others, like a simple calculator app, prove that a watch face is really too small to require accurate touch input.
Fitness app Endomondo is a keeper, though. It lets you track the duration of your workouts, along with distance, speed, calories burned, and pace, which is precisely the sort of information you want to have at a wrist's glance. You'll still need to keep you phone on hand, though, as the G Watch R lacks GPS. The latest Android Wear update just added standalone GPS support, but so far the only watch to come equipped with one is the forthcoming Sony SmartWatch 3. That's something to keep in mind if you're planning to do a lot of exercise. You'll also probably want to swap out the leather band for something a little more fitness-friendly.
LG's only real software modifications are some new watch faces, which I really dig. My favorite is the classic face you get out of the box. It's a timeless, well-designed face that's a big part of what makes the G Watch R look like a real, classy watch. But the fitness face is really cool as well, since it provides a quick glance at your step progress whenever you check the time.
But really, the biggest updates to Android Wear—GPS and music with or without your phone—aren't that big at all. Just like the other Android Wear devices we've tested, the G Watch R is primarily for notifications and voice commands, which still don't make the smartwatch a must-have device in my opinion.
Conclusions
The LG G Watch R is certainly the best-looking smartwatch I've ever seen, and I'm trying not to let that cloud my judgment. It's also the best Android Wear device yet, but I just don't think that's enough to recommend you go out and buy one. I like it more than the Moto 360, but I'd rather wear a Pebble Steel ($129.99 at Amazon) , if only to avoid charging yet another device every night. The Pebble Steel has plenty of apps, and can also serve you notifications from your smartphone (albeit not as advanced). It also lasts up to a week on one charge, which is a lot more reasonable than one day.
But really, at this point, I'd wait to see what the Apple Watch brings. So far smartwatch makers haven't been able to come up with a convincing reason for why we should replace our traditional watches with a smart one. I'm not sure Apple will change that, but it's worth waiting to find out.
The LG G Watch R is the best Android Wear smartwatch yet, but it's expensive and we still aren't fully sold on the operating system.
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